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Summary List of stories Phase II Night: Ashes, Metal, And Corruption << chapter 61 Chapter 62 of 75 Condolences chapter 63 >> << previous scene Scene 1 of 2 next scene >> Location Participants Time Summary Prologue | Phase I | Phase II | Epilogue 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 Text Scrivener and Luna were still in Ponyville the next day: Twilight had brought Antares in, but for now, Celestia had agreed to look after her nephew and his friend, Avalon, while Cowlick called a meeting at her engineering facility. The charcoal stallion was trying to prepare himself for what he knew they were going to undoubtedly bring up the moment they had the chance: the visions he'd had on Beauty's death. And what he thought made it particularly frustrating was not only the lack of sleep, but also the fact he knew that he had no right to keep the story from any of them... and especially not from Rarity and Spike. All the same, the earth pony grumbled moodily as they approached the building, and Luna gave her husband an amused look before she said mildly: "I do enjoy that at least thou art back to complaining and whining. Although I think 'tis ridiculous that thou art complaining about this of all things instead of... well..." Luna flinched a bit, shifting awkwardly as Scrivener Blooms gave her a soft look, and then she shook her head quickly, muttering: "Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. 'Tis stupid, is what it is. I cannot understand the way thy mind and emotions work, or how thou can be so whiny about things and yet handle... and yet..." She grimaced and looked down, and Scrivener gazed at her softly before she glowered a bit as her eyes flicked up, saying moodily: "Our link may still be static-riddled, Scrivy, but I swear to Odin's hideous visage that if thou art feeling pity for me, I shall pummel thee into the ground." "Don't worry, Luna, I'm sure it's all just self-pity and vindictiveness." Scrivener replied softly after a moment, and Luna grumbled at him before she nodded and turned towards him, burying her face against his neck as Scrivener closed his eyes and murmured: "You're my anchor. You're everything that means anything. I have to stay alive for you... I have to stay on my hooves for Twilight... I have to be there to protect our son." The sapphire mare nodded against him and mumbled a little as they headed to the doors, and Luna's horn glowed to throw them open and almost knock over a pony standing just inside, Rainbow Dash wincing and staggering out of the way before he glared at them as Scrivener looked at the Pegasus lamely and Luna only huffed. "Well then thou should not have been standing by the door!" She sniffed and rose her head, then grumbled as she glowered over the others present in the lobby: Soarin', Cowlick, and a secretary who was trying to awkwardly hide behind her desk. Luna ignored the last, her eyes roving instead between the two Pegasi and the earth pony in front of her, before Cowlick said moodily: "Anyway, we talked enough for now, get outta here. I gotta talk to Luna and Scrivy alone... hey, Weaver, take these guys upstairs!" The secretary looked up awkwardly from her desk, then nodded as Rainbow Dash looked curiously at Cowlick, but she only grunted and waved a hoof grouchily. "Don't you even start. One last piece of advice though, Soarin'. If you want something, just go for it. You can learn a lot about that from these two, actually... then again, pretty sure Scrivener's gayer than you are. Just look what he's married to." Luna scowled as Scrivener looked meditatively across at the engineer, and then she paused and asked inquisitively. "Hey, in all seriousness, Scrivy, you ever put your dipstick in-" "He gets touchy when you ask him about that, Cowlick." Rainbow interrupted, and then he leaned over and whispered something in Cowlick's ear, and the earth pony engineer stared, then threw her head back and laughed as Luna and Scrivener only looked at her sourly. "Yeah, I bet! Oh, that is sick and horrible but worth a giggle. Okay, okay, Soarin', Rainbow, get the hell out of here, Weaver will show you the way." She smiled amusedly over her shoulder, shaking her head slowly. "And stay away from that bastard Sleipnir, don't let him go seducing you now. I admit he almost cajoled me into bed with him but then I thought about how he's probably got every STD known to ponykind and then some." "He does not! Sleipnir is very clean." Luna paused for a moment, then she added with a grumble: "That, and the idiot has never gotten sick in his accursed life. Apparently mother nature coddles him so much he cannot even catch a silly cold." "Yeah, well, you can be immune to something and still be a carrier. I like my genitals wart-free, thank you very much." Cowlick replied dryly, and Soarin' and Rainbow both reared back with winces before the engineer glared over her shoulder at them. "Oh, stop behaving like little boys. Now get." The Pegasi both nodded, Rainbow grumbling and Soarin' smiling awkwardly before they both turned to follow the secretary out. Cowlick watched the door swing shut before she glanced back and forth to make sure they were alone, and then she looked ahead and met Scrivener's eyes, saying quietly: "I heard about what was going on, Scrivy. I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do for you..." "I've got a long time left yet." Scrivener replied quietly, but Cowlick only gave him a faint smile in return, shaking her head slowly. "Now don't you start that bull with me, you hear? My daddy... he died of cancer, you know." Cowlick said quietly, and Scrivener and Luna both glanced up in surprise at this volunteered information: after all, Cowlick talked about her past even less than Scrivener talked about his own. "Right here." She reached a hoof up, touching her stomach and shaking her head slowly. "My dad was a great stallion and tough as nails, but... god, I wish still some days when I think about it he had just given up. Started here... caught it about stage two... went in cutting and slicing and they missed a single batch of cells. So it spread all through him again in a year, and this time it made its way into his bones and his heart. "I watched my dad die for seven years. This brilliant and stubborn stallion, I watched him die for seven long years, and back then? The time seemed to just drag on by. But in reality? It was too short. I look back every day and realize those slow seconds were a blessing, even though I had to look at this stallion who... who wouldn't use a wheelchair, who survived more than twice as long as the doctors expected him to but at a cost I can't begin to describe to himself, and whose dying words ended up being 'go ahead and fix the oscillator.' Just like you, Scrivy. Stubborn, focused on everything but himself, and for all his brainpower real goddamn stupid." Cowlick closed her eyes and shook her head out fiercely, and then she looked up, forcing a smile. "Yeah. Wasn't exactly the greatest time I had at my apprenticeship with all that crap going on, but... I pushed through anyway. That's what my daddy taught me, and that it doesn't matter what anyone else says or tells you if you got the idea in your head and you know you're right. They said he'd die in a few years, and he'd die faster if he kept refusing to do all the stuff they told him to. But he knew better than they did about his body and his spirit, and he pushed through. But the time was still too goddamn short... he was still hurt, hurt to the core. And he didn't do it for himself." Cowlick shook her head slowly. "He did it for Momma. He did it for me. And it kills me to think of that now, to understand that the stupid, stupid jerk could have been out there, fulfilling his literal death wishes, and instead he stayed home and... looked after us. Funny, thinking that: daddy, dying of cancer in the next room, and yet... even on the bad days, when I was there at home, supposed to be taking care of him, I'd get up, go to the kitchen, find my tools polished or food laid out or just that things looked different, and I'd realize daddy had yanked himself out of his bed at some point, dragged himself down the hall, and done this. Horses of Heaven I'd get so mad at him but..." The earth pony mare halted, then she looked up and across at Scrivener silently. "But I've said enough, enough that even you should get this through your stupid goddamn head. Do stuff for yourself, Scrivener. Do a few things that you want to and you'll enjoy, and Luna, dammit, don't let him continue to do everything everywhere. And you value your goddamn time with him, because... because even if you got ten years, one day it's going to feel like you only had ten minutes between when he was smiling and still able to walk and... and layin' in bed, cold and alone, in a way no pony can heat up or save him from." Luna and Scrivener looked across at Cowlick silently, and then she slowly looked up with a faint smile. "It ain't all about you, Scrivener. Some of it's about us. That means you gotta let us take care of you sometimes, you get it? Now don't be a jackass about this or I'm going to kneecap you with my rifle, and then you'll really have something to cry about." Scrivener smiled despite himself, glancing away, and Cowlick studied him for a few moments before she grunted and turned, muttering: "Anyway, let's get our flanks in gear. Got no time for tears right now, none of us. Got a lot of crap to cover and the meeting room's only reserved from ten minutes ago to fifty minutes from now." Luna and Scrivener both nodded silently, trading a look and a swirl of emotions before Scrivener began to open his mouth, and without looking around, Cowlick threw a rear hoof towards his face, making him wince and hurriedly yank his head back as she shoved the doors leading into the facility open and snapped: "I swear, you offer me your condolences once, Scrivener Blooms, and I will mash your pretty face up so bad even Sleipnir won't call you pretty anymore." "I don't think that's possible. I also don't think it's my face he refers to as 'pretty.'" Scrivener muttered, and Cowlick snorted in amusement as she began forwards, shaking herself briskly out as Luna and Scrivener followed before the male added finally: "Funny, though, you know. Rainbow and I always figured you were like me and him. Family issues, instead of... well... you know." "Daddy rose me on motor oil and engine parts. Now I'm not saying we never had our disagreements or that me and my Momma were the closest family ever, and I have an estranged little brother somewhere I hope is still alive only so that fire-ants can eat his small intestine from the inside-out, but..." Cowlick smiled a bit over her shoulder at Scrivener. "He wasn't no Bramblethorn." "Thankfully I believe there are few Bramblethorns in this world, if only because I would seek out and pummel each and every one of them did I hear of their existence." Luna muttered, and Cowlick grunted before the engineer turned her attention back ahead as they approached Weaver. The earth pony secretary was hurriedly shuffling through notes on a clipboard, and Cowlick yanked this away when they drew close, making the secretary wince before she quickly pushed the door to the meeting room open, saying awkwardly: "The transportation commission has the room booked afterwards, along with the Mayor-" Cowlick grumbled at this as she stormed inside, Scrivener and Luna following, and the secretary coming last as the engineer threw the clipboard onto the table before complaining over her shoulder: "I don't march into city hall going 'hey, you better give me a meeting room' every goddamn day, why the hell are the politicians coming here to go over agendas? Screw the Trans-Po. If they show up early, tell 'em they get the room when we're done with it. Hell, tell 'em that if they show up late and we're still in here, Weaver, I'm the only one around here with the chops to fire you and I'm not gonna do that." Weaver smiled awkwardly, then she hurried out of the room as Scrivener and Luna took their seats between Rainbow Dash and Discombobulation, the Draconequus already looking bored out of his mind. Both ponies gazed up and down the table at the gathering here in this large, velvet room: almost every seat along the sides was taken, with Cowlick currently sitting at the foot and paging through papers besides Greece as he leaned in next to her, the two muttering between themselves. Slowly, Sleipnir rose a hoof near the other end of the table, and the engineer glanced up at this before she said sourly: "Put your stupid hoof back down in your wife's lap and amuse yourself for a few minutes, we gotta get organized." "Well, I would, but I fear that she will not allow this, so instead I must whine like a foal and ask how much longer we shall all be stuck waiting here." Sleipnir replied blandly, and then he paused and frowned back and forth over the table and the ponies and other beings here, asking flatly as he hammered his hoof down against the mahogany surface: "And where is accursed Celestia?" "Looking after Antares, Avalon, and l'il Rustproof." Cowlick replied absently, continuing to page through files. "She already saw all the reports ahead of time and talked to Scrivener, too. As a matter of fact, I heard the two were seen this morning walking around Ponyville together. You trying to collect all the pretty and powerful mares, Scrivy? 'Cause you ain't nowhere near as handsome as Ross, so don't count on collecting me." "Who would even want you, Cowlick?" Rainbow asked mildly, and Cowlick looked up grumpily from her papers as Ross rose a hoof with a smile. "I. Yeah. I'm just going to stop here because I get the feeling that if I actually say anything mean I'm going to get shot." "And this time it won't be rubber bullets." Cowlick muttered, and then she glanced over at Scrivener and said mildly: "Well, let's make the best use of our time that we can then, at least. Go ahead, fill everyone in on what you saw when you... well... when whatever the hell it was that happened, happened. Tell us about Beauty." Scrivener hesitated, but then he sighed a little when Cowlick looked at him pointedly and both Rarity and Spike straightened a bit, their eyes almost pleading as they turned towards the earth pony. He shifted back and forth, then he dropped his head forwards moodily, nodding once before he murmured: "Okay, okay. I guess... I can do that." He hesitated for a moment, then looked up, surveying the many faces at the table before his eyes roved to gaze at Rarity and Spike, saying quietly: "Beauty... was just like the others. Tortured, warped, and corrupted. She... she became what she was to save Spike. Number 59133... a serial number instead of a name to hide him among the ranks of soldiers, so no one else would know who he really was. Giving him all her best technology so he would be safe, and always assigning him as her personal bodyguard. "But Beauty was important to Valthrudnir: more than Hexad and elite, she was a designer, a builder, a creator. There are words I'm not familiar with that come to mind when I think of her... 'geneticist' is one of the few I've deciphered. It means she studied and modified living creatures for Clockwork World..." He closed his eyes and laughed a little. "She was key to keeping Clockwork World running without Valthrudnir around. But that's part of what worries me... Valthrudnir would have protected her, if only because he... he's not stupid enough to believe that he doesn't need lieutenants and officers to keep something as massive as Clockwork World running smoothly. That's why you have all these different types of monster, all doing their job, overseen by the Hexad, who are watched over by the Prophet, who reports to and serves the Clockwork King." Scrivener paused to gather his thoughts, and Luna silently rubbed a hoof along his back as Discombobulation frowned and Rarity shivered, then looked up with a wince when Pinkamena said in a wry voice: "Well, look at that, Rarity. I guess there really is a world somewhere where you're top pony after all." Rarity only shook her head at this, and Spike closed his eyes as he bowed his head forwards before Scrivener said softly: "But that's part of what has me worried, and although Celestia and I have already gone over it, I want to hear all your ideas, too. Why would the Clockwork King or Valthrudnir or whatever it is take such a risk in sending her in?" "Thou still does not know whether or not 'tis Valthrudnir, instead of some other entity?" Sleipnir asked curiously, and when Luna nodded and Scrivener glanced over at him, the stallion frowned and shook his head slowly, muttering: "That is far from good. Perhaps that is what we should turn our attention to. Understanding exactly what we are faced against..." "Although answering that, well. That could be a little difficult." Scrivener said moodily, dropping back against his chair and sighing quietly as he looked slowly back and forth across the faces lining the table. "I have no idea what we're up against here myself, after all. There's... there's so much evidence that points to it being Valthrudnir, back somehow, no matter how impossible it seems... but there's so much evidence that says it really is impossible, that it must be someone... some thing... else." "Then we turn our eyes to what we do know, and go over that." Cowlick said authoritatively, and all eyes turned down towards her as the engineer continued in a surprisingly-serious voice: "Look. All of you know me as the butch, crazy, skilled-as-hell engineer, right? Well, let's forget about everything except for the last part for a moment. I ain't no prodigy, I worked for my goddamn skills, but that only means I had to learn the textbooks inside and out and then unlearn about half that garbage. "But one thing you learn when fixing and working on the stuff I have is that sometimes things break for the weirdest reasons, and the only way you figure that out ain't by eliminating every other possibility... it's by keeping an open mind and remembering that some problems we can't just magically solve. We need to approach this head-on, and not dismiss what we find just because we're scared, or we don't understand how the hell it could be going on because C doesn't come after A. We can figure out what we're missing after we figure out what the problem is." Cowlick finished, tapping a hoof against the table as Greece nodded solemnly beside her. There was silence for a few moments, and then Scrivener sighed after a moment, saying finally: "Then we can't rule out the possibility that Valthrudnir's alive somehow, much as I want to. But even if we are dealing with him... something's wrong with him." "Well, Scrivy, been a long time since I was stabbed in the eye last, but I'm thinking that something being shoved rudely into his brain might have helped him go crazy. That and dying. Dying ain't fun." Pinkamena said mildly, leaning forwards and looking pointedly across at Scrivener, and the charcoal stallion smiled despite himself before the demon looked moodily around the table. "Who else here remembers dying? Who wants to argue that it was a pleasant trip down a nice pretty river?" There were mumbles at this, and Cowlick automatically rubbed at her side and chest, shaking her head after a moment before Rainbow Dash looked up and asked quietly: "So what's the difference if it's Valthrudnir, or if it's the Clockwork King, really? Does it... does it change what we're up against?" Scrivener and Luna traded looks, and then Luna sighed quietly before murmuring softly: "Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash, this is not a situation where we can simply... push and push and hope for the best. If it is Valthrudnir against whom we are embattled... there is no telling what powers the Jötnar still retains, nor what level of cruelty he is willing to stoop to. But if the Clockwork King is only some... some malformed monarch imitating his fallen lord, or some other childish, wicked force, then our chance for victory is much higher." "A lot hinges on whether or not Valthrudnir is back. But we have no true way of knowing... not yet, anyway." Twilight said softly, looking silently over at Scrivener, studying him with solemn, quiet eyes. Scrivy gazed back at her, and then she sighed softly, lowering her head and adding in a pained voice: "The... the most logical thing is to take down the rest of the Hexad. Remove Valthrudnir's lieutenants from the equation, hopefully weaken Clockwork World's organization, and... give Scrivener their memories, if that's what's happening." Discombobulation looked over at the charcoal earth pony and he nodded slowly, and then the Draconequus smiled wryly, saying quietly: "You've a very, very selfish pony, Luna. I applaud it, though... I know I'm far too much of a coward to do the same, after all, now that I've unfortunately lived through the experience once already." Scrivener only shrugged a bit as a few others at the table traded uncertain looks, and then Discombobulation glanced up and murmured softly: "There's a few little factoids you ponies aren't considering, however. A few things of particular note and particular interest... which is very understandable, you all have full plates and I rarely have the stomach for liver and onions myself. "We always know more than we know, it just takes the conscious mind a while to process it. To see every detail, to look beneath the pony brain, beneath the feral brain, all the way down to the lizard brain, the deepest, stupidest brain that acts on just instinct. The brain not even dear Twilight Sparkle can control." Discombobulation gestured at her kindly, and Twilight looked at him sourly before the Draconequus continued seriously: "Now, as I myself am a stage psychic with acuity talents sharper than any of you believe – although if you blindfold me and put me behind the wheel of a yellow sports car, it's not going to be a cunningly-planned accident that sends me driving it off a cliff – I am very good at reading each level of your minds. And here's what the reactions of each and every one of you tell me: you're all afraid of Luna, because you all smell it, just like I do." Scrivener looked up sharply, and Discombobulation looked calmly towards him before he said softly: "Because they're all seeing something that's impossible to deny, and yet they, like I, desire to deny it anyway. We keep calling it corruption that's poisoned you, Scrivener Blooms, but just because it's killing you doesn't mean it's poison: drink enough water, after all, and you'll get drunk. Drink enough of that pure H2O, as a matter of fact, and you will die. "Am I dancing around the point? Of course, that's what I do." Discombobulation looked up with a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes as he reached up and slowly squeezed Scrivener's shoulder. "We should have known it before, but we were stupid, it was not something any of us desired to consider. We were fools, but now there's no choice but to face the music, and the music, oh, the music is so full of sorrow and disharmony, it is a cacophony of broken notes... "Yes, my friends. Here is the strongest possible answer, what our instincts tell us that we want to deny. Here is what the evidence points to, and not just from Clockwork World's behavior, but because of the Tyrant Wyrms and all the other terrors unleashed by Valthrudnir. Here is how Valthrudnir exists, without existing..." Discombobulation fell silent, then he snapped his fingers, and all those around the table lurched backwards as black rot rapidly began to spread through the furnishing, staring in horror as veins of darkness pulsed through the wood. "Clockwork World is a tumor. But tumors are a hotbed from which infection can grow, and mutate, and spread. Clockwork World is playing with us... because piece-by-piece, it's infecting us, and Luna is only the first victim of that infection because he's been exposed to the carriers, exposed to the powers, again and again. "Clockwork World isn't trying to destroy us. The Hexad aren't afraid to die... they're fulfilling their purpose. They're spreading the disease... they're forcing us to fight, forcing us to grow stronger, forcing us to develop weapons, forcing us to become more powerful before they pour their disease into our world. They're going to keep pressuring us until each and every one of us has nothing but fighting and killing on the mind... and then they'll infect us, only unlike Scrivener Blooms, we won't have the pleasure of dying. Instead, just like what you're all afraid of... we'll become the monsters we have fought for so long against." Discombobulation closed his eyes, murmuring softly: "Because gazing into the abyss is bad enough... but this abyss doesn't simply gaze back into us. It's reaching up to pull us in." And silence fell around the table as ponies looked nervously, fearfully at one another, Pinkamena's grin frozen on her features and Greece swallowing thickly before the Draconequus said quietly: "Let's just hope this is all just a nightmare, a hallucination, a bad trip. Otherwise... we're playing a game where winning will ultimately make us lose." Category:Transcript Category:Story